Gap migrating to top of Church Street

Gap is moving out of Burlington Town Center mall to 1 Church St. at the top of the Church Street Marketplace, the real estate broker for the building confirmed Friday.
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Gap will move to 1 Church St., along with Gap Kids, Baby Gap and Athleta.

Gap-owned Athleta will be a new store for Burlington, offering women's athletic and casual clothing.

Gap is moving out of Burlington Town Center mall to 1 Church St. at the top of the Church Street Marketplace, the real estate broker for the building confirmed Friday.

Jeff Nick of J.L. Davis Realty said Gap would take two levels of the building at 1 Church St., occupying 14,000 square feet with Gap, Gap Kids, Baby Gap and Athleta, a new store for Burlington. Gap-owned Athleta offers athletic wear and casual clothing for women.

Nick said the move would be complete by this fall. Nick represents Peter Collins, co-founder of the law firm Paul Frank + Collins, and the landlord for 1 Church St. Paul Frank + Collins also occupies the building, along with the Burlington offices of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

The recent removal of the water fountain from the top of Church Street was key to convincing Gap to take the space, Nick said. The space has been vacant since Ann Taylor closed in 2008.

“When we removed the fountain that was a big plus,” Nick said. “It was in the way. It presented a barrier to pedestrians.”

Burlington Town Center Co-Owner Don Sinex of Devonwood Investors, LLC in New York City said Friday that Gap had not yet ended its lease in the mall, but has the right to leave the mall.

Sinex told the Free Press in May that the mall’s relationship with Gap was “problematic” because of the clothing store’s troubled relationship with the mall’s previous owners, Chicago-based General Growth Properties. Sinex said that if Gap left the mall, but stayed on Church Street, it would still be a “win” for downtown Burlington.

Sinex also announced in May that L.L. Bean would be coming to the Burlington Town Center mall in late fall. Jeff Nick said the combination of Gap’s move and the presence of L.L. Bean will transform the top of Church Street, which has long struggled to attract the amount of shopping traffic the lower part of the pedestrian street attracts.

“It’s a great opportunity, a tremendous amount of retail horsepower on this end of the street between these two retailers,” Nick said.

Nick, who is also chairman of the Marketplace Commission, said once Gap is in place, Church Street will be 99 percent occupied, with the only vacant space across from City Hall where Mr. Crepe used to be. Nick said he believes someone will take that space by late summer, making Church Street 100 percent occupied.

Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DanDambrosioVT.